Videoconferencing involves communication between two or more videoconferencing terminals. Each videoconferencing terminal is typically placed within a conference room or in an office. One or more conference participants will gather in one or more of the conference rooms that includes a videoconferencing terminal. Subsequently, one of the conference participants at a near end conference room will initiate a videoconferencing call by dialing a number, e.g., an IP address, associated with one or more videoconferencing terminals of the far end conference room. Upon receiving the videoconferencing request, the far end participants will answer the call thereby approving the establishment of a videoconferencing session. Finally, near end videoconferencing terminal and the far end videoconferencing terminals will establish a videoconference call allowing conference participants to communicate with each other.
But establishing a videoconferencing session in the above manner can be cumbersome. For example, all participants need to be present in predetermined conference rooms for the videoconference call to be successful. If a conference participant at either the near end or far end conference room forgets the scheduled videoconference session, then the videoconference session will not be established. Additionally, the participant that establishes the videoconferencing session needs to enter the dialing number or the IP address of the far end videoconferencing terminal. The dialing numbers and the IP addresses are generally long and difficult to remember. Not surprisingly, impromptu videoconferencing sessions are difficult to set up, especially because the far end participants are unaware of an incoming call and the near end participants are unaware of the location of the far end participants.
A solution is presented that mitigates the inconvenience due to the need for participants to be present at predefined locations for participating in a videoconference and the inconvenience due to remembering and dialing long dialing numbers and IP addresses for establishing a videoconference call.